Vietnam's largest seafood trade fair, \"VietFish 2026,\" opened on August 19 at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center (SECC) in Ho Chi Minh City. This year's centerpiece, gathering 568 booths and 18 countries and regions over three days, is the \"Hosted Buyer Program,\" introduced for the first time. It invites buyers from major importing countries and takes them all the way to the Mekong Delta's aquaculture farms and processing plants. From a mere trade meeting to a place that shows the region and binds through trust\u2014this design change becomes an unmatched point of contact for Japanese seafood buyers who want to rebuild their sourcing amid the headwind of US tariffs.<\/p>\n
The organizer is the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP). The exhibition area exceeds 14,000 square meters, lined with mainstay items such as shrimp, catfish (pangasius), squid, octopus, shellfish and crab. VASEP chairman Do Ngoc Tai explained this year's aim as \"evolving from a conventional exhibition into a strategic place that connects the value chain of the whole industry.\" The mechanism of taking importers who come to the venue all the way to the production site is its symbol.<\/p>\n
The figures are a tailwind too. Vietnam's seafood exports were 11.3 billion dollars in 2025, and in 2026 ran at 6.9 billion dollars for January\u2013July, up 12.8% year on year, with a full-year target of 12 billion dollars. The content of the growth is moving toward taking added value not through price but through processing degree and traceability (tracking the production history).<\/p>\n
| Item<\/th>\n | Details<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n |
|---|---|
| Dates \/ venue<\/td>\n | August 19, 2026, for three days \/ Ho Chi Minh SECC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Scale<\/td>\n | 568 booths, 18 countries and regions, over 14,000 m\u00b2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Organizers<\/td>\n | VASEP (Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| New initiative<\/td>\n | Hosted Buyer Program (with region and processing-plant tours)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Export results<\/td>\n | 11.3 billion dollars in 2025 \/ 6.9 billion dollars January\u2013July 2026 (+12.8% year on year)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\nWhy a \"show-the-region\" deal works<\/h2>\nIn international seafood sourcing, there is an unease that a price list and inspection certificate alone cannot fill. Water-quality management in aquaculture, antibiotic use, processing-plant hygiene, and whether volume can be delivered stably. These do not sit right without seeing the site. The hosted-buyer type resolves that unease in advance through a \"tour.\"A scramble for Vietnamese lobster broke out at the Hong Kong Food Expo<\/a> as it shows, good regions are fought over by buyers worldwide. Whoever secures the site first grasps the next year's allocation.<\/p>\n Here is the core for Japanese sourcing staff. Vietnamese shrimp and pangasius face pressure from anti-dumping and extra tariffs in the US market, and diversifying export destinations has become a challenge. High-quality lots that cannot all be sent to the US create room to be redirected to Japan, which has a tariff advantage under the CPTPP. In other words, the US headwind creates, for Japanese buyers, a phase in which \"upper-tier lots that were hard to get until now can be secured right now.\"<\/p>\n |